Supply chain technology firm FourKites has gobbled up container shipping management platform Haven.
The deal emerges just two weeks after Chicago-based FourKites secured $100m in new financing, doubling the capital raised so far by the firm.
Financial details of the acquisition of Haven, which was started by serial tech entrepreneur Matt Tillman, were not revealed.
FourKites used its announcement of the transaction as a launch for a new ocean container visibility platform for box shippers dubbed Dynamic Ocean.
Building on technology developed by Haven, the system combines document management, collaboration and bookings support with end-to-end, real-time container shipment tracking.
“Haven is thrilled to bring our team and expertise in SaaS [software as a service], supply chain and ocean tracking to FourKites, a company that pioneered real-time freight visibility and shares our vision for more automated, collaborative supply chains,” said Haven chief executive Brad Klaus.
FourKites claims that Dynamic Ocean covers 99% of container traffic and 750 ports.
2014 launch
Tillman teamed up with former Apple executive Jeff Wehner to launch Haven in 2014.
The initial focus was to make it easy for small shippers to book freight with liner operators.
“What ended up happening was that the large commodity trading firms saw us as a better, faster way to fix freight, even on their existing relationships, than using email,” Tillman told TradeWinds in a 2016 interview.
“[This is] because we handle all of the heavy lifting on the technology side, so that you can source, book and negotiate freight all in one systems without the costs of doing all those things in the traditional market.”
The business model later shifted to focus on the management of shipments, with a view toward simplifying documentation of container shipping processes.
This is the technology that FourKites ultimately integrated with its supply chain visibility tech.
“Ocean shipping is extremely complex, with at least six different parties touching a single container, and cumbersome documentation workflows that can account for upwards of 70% of detention and demurrage,” said FourKites founder and chief executive Mathew Elenjickal.
“Together with Haven, we are proud to introduce new end-to-end ocean capabilities that have been sorely lacking in the industry, and that are now mission-critical to effective management of ocean shipments.”
Last month, FourKites announced that it had bagged a $100m round of Series D financing led by Thomas H Lee Partners, a fund manager focused on investments in the financial services, healthcare, and technology and business solutions sectors.
